A new approach to macroalgal bloom control in eutrophic, shallow-water, coastal areas.

In summer 2012, an experiment was conducted in a shallow eutrophic lagoon with poor water exchange to determine the consequences of harvesting algae on the algal mat itself, which was traversed and repeatedly disturbed by large harvester boats. Four areas with high macroalgal density, measuring half a hectare each, were selected. Two were subjected to frequent disturbance of the algal mat and sediment (12 two-hour operations over a 38-day period) and the other two were left undisturbed as control. The following variables were determined: 1) water column physical chemistry and nutrients; 2) redox potential, nutrients and organic load in sediments; 3) C, N and P content of algal thalli; 4) macroalgal biomass. In 2013, a further experiment was conducted on a larger scale. Biomass was estimated in a high-density mat measuring 235 ha, where macroalgae were harvested and stirred up by four harvesting boats, and in two high-density mats measuring 150 and 120 ha, left undisturbed as control (9.15, 9.92 and 3.68 kg/m(2), respectively). In the first experiment, no significant changes were observed in the water column. In sediment the main variation was a significant reduction in labile organic matter in the disturbed areas and a significant increase mainly in refractory organic matter in the undisturbed areas. Biomass showed a significant drastic reduction in disturbed areas and substantial stability in undisturbed areas. In the large-scale experiment, the biomass of the disturbed mat declined by about 63%, only 6.5% of which was due to harvesting. On the other hand, the undisturbed mat with higher density underwent a natural decline in biomass of about 23% and the other increased by about 50%. These results demonstrate that disturbance of high-density mat in shallow water by boats can cause decay of the mat.

Assessment of resuspended matter and redistribution of macronutrient elements produced by boat disturbance in a eutrophic lagoon.

Harvesting of macroalgae by specially equipped boats in a shallow eutrophic lagoon produces evident sediment resuspension. To outline the environmental effects of this disturbance, we examined the quantity of fall-out and the distances travelled by sediment and macronutrients from the source of boat disturbance. Resuspended sediment fall-out (RSFO) was trapped at different distances from the boat path to determine total dry weight, total nitrogen (TN), total carbon (TC), total organic carbon (TOC), total sulphur (TS) and total phosphorus (TP). The data was analysed by principal components analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) on PCA factors. Fall-out of C, N, S and P from the plume of resuspended sediment indicated significant re-arrangement of these nutrients: RSFO dry weight and S content decreased with distance from the boat path, whereas TP increased and was the variable responsible for most discrimination at 100 m. The mass of resuspended matter was relatively large, indicating that the boats considerably reshuffle lagoon sediment.

Artificial soft sediment resuspension and high density opportunistic macroalgal mat fragmentation as method for increasing sediment zoobenthic assemblage diversity in a eutrophic lagoon.

Superficial soft sediment resuspension and partial fragmentation of high density opportunistic macroalgal mats were investigated by boat to determine the impact on zoobenthic assemblages in a eutrophic Mediterranean lagoon. Sediment resuspension was used to oxidise superficial organic sediments as a method to counteract the effects of eutrophication. Likewise, artificial decay of macroalgal mat was calculated to reduce a permanent source of sediment organic matter. An area of 9ha was disturbed (zone D) and two other areas of the same size were left undisturbed (zones U). We measured chemical-physical variables, estimated algal biomass and sedimentary organic matter, and conducted qualitative and quantitative determinations of the zoobenthic species detected in sediment and among algal mats. The results showed a constant major reduction in labile organic matter (LOM) and algal biomass in D, whereas values in U remained stable or increased. In the three zones, however, bare patches of lagoon bed increased in size, either by direct effect of the boats in D or by anaerobic decay of the algal mass in U. Zoobenthic assemblages in algal mats reduced the number of species in D, probably due to the sharp reduction in biomass, but remained stable in U, whereas in all three areas abundance increased. Sediment zoobenthic assemblages increased the number of species in D, as expected, due to drastic reduction in LOM, whereas values in U remained stable and again abundance increased in all three zones. In conclusion, we confirmed that reduction of sediment organic load enabled an increase in the number of species, while the algal mats proved to be an important substrate in the lagoon environment for zoobenthic assemblages, especially when mat alternated with bare intermat areas of lagoon bed. Sediment resuspension is confirmed as a management criterion for counteracting the effects of eutrophication and improving the biodiversity of zoobenthic assemblages in eutrophic lagoon environments.

Biogeochemical effects of disturbance in shallow water sediment by macroalgae harvesting boats.

In the shallow water of Orbetello lagoon, macroalgae harvesting boats produce sediment disturbance. To evaluate the effect of this, during 2001-2002, a trial study was carried out in the lagoon in order to: verify seasonal and diurnal trends in nutrients and estimate the quantity of resuspended organic sediment. An unbalanced and balanced ANOVA (one and two way) analysis was applied. The disturbance did not produce strong and lasting eutrophication effects. In the seasonal survey, dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) showed significant decreases in disturbed areas at the end of the trial, while the control area showed a constant, significant increase. Dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and phosphorus (DOP) significantly increased everywhere. In disturbed areas, sediment redox (Eh((NHE))) increased and porosity values decreased, contrary to the control area. Total organic carbon (TOC) remained unchanged in disturbed areas, but increased in the control area, where the C:P ration increased. The fall-out of sedimentary material resuspended by boat action for as far as 50 m from the boat route, was 189 g(dw)m(-2) made up mainly of organic matter. This disturbance could be the cause of change in vegetation in the lagoon.

Physico-chemical and nutrient variable stratifications in the water column and in macroalgal thalli as a result of high biomass mats in a non-tidal shallow-water lagoon.

A field study to check parameter stratification during high density growth of four opportunistic macroalgae was carried out in Orbetello lagoon (Italy). The effects of macroalgal masses were compared with a seagrass meadow and two lagoon areas with bare bottoms as controls for pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity, nitrite, nitrate ammonium and orthophosphate. The nutrient content of thalli and sediment redox were measured. Macroalgae showed differences in stratification of thalli nutrient content. Mat with low density and high volume produced stratifications in the water column, but it did not produce nutrient release by sediment. In contrast, high density and low and high volume mats led to sharp falls in dissolved oxygen, with negative values of sediment Eh and anoxic trigger processes that presumably led to release of sediment nutrients. This depended on thallus type: heavy thalli compacted the mat and light ones distributed more widely in the water column.

Spread of Alsidium corallinum C. Ag. in a Tyrrhenian eutrophic lagoon dominated by opportunistic macroalgae.

In 2007, the Rhodophyceae Alsidium corallinum C. Ag., a marine taxon, bloomed in the eutrophic lagoon of Orbetello (Tuscany, Italy) for the first time, becoming the dominant species in spring and summer. In November, its biomass collapsed. The hypothesis examined in this study is that the bloom expressed a relatively low eutrophic level of the ecosystem after intense disposal of accumulated sedimentary organic matter (OM) by dystrophic processes in the two years preceding the bloom. To verify the hypothesis, we compared water physical-chemical variables, sediment redox (Eh) and OM, and standing crops of macroalgae and seagrass from the database of routine monitoring between 2005 and 2008. We also used dissolved nutrient data obtained in 2007 and 2008, as well as data on chlorophyll and total suspended matter in the water column during the microalgal bloom of 2007, and C, N and P content in thalli of the Chlorophycea Chaetomorpha linum and the Rhodophyceae Gracilariopsis longissima and A. corallinum obtained in 2007. In 2007, unusually low values of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) were recorded. Combined with stable values of soluble reactive phosphorus (SRPs), low DIN led to a reduction of about one order of magnitude in the DIN:SRP atomic ratio with respect to the past and to 2008. G. longissima accumulated C, N and P more than the other species and A. corallinum proved to be less demanding. Sediment OM was lower in the autumn of years characterized by dystrophy, confirming that summer dystrophic events coincided with maximum energy dissipation in this ecosystem. However, as soon as OM and DIN values increased (2008), the vegetation shifted towards blooms of G. longissima and C. linum, while A. corallinum almost disappeared. The results sustain the hypothesis that the bloom of A. corallinum was due to a decline in DIN that limited G. longissima, and to intense turbidity of the water caused by microphytes that developed after the dystrophic event of summer 2006. The latter probably limited the development of C. linum, which could only develop at the edges of the lagoon.

Effects of mariculture on macrobenthic assemblages in a Western Mediterranean site.

The effects of solid organic wastes from a marine fish farm on sediment was tested using macrobenthic fauna as biological indicators. Impact on benthic fauna was evaluated in the vicinity of a fish farm in the Tyrrhenian Sea (Western Mediterranean) between July 2001 and October 2002. Changes in benthic community structure were investigated using multivariate, distributional and univariate analyses (diversity indices, AMBI and M-AMBI). The results showed sharp disturbance of assemblages under the cages and no effects in the area more than 25 m from the cages. Sediment alterations were related to an increase in farmed biomass and its wastes, as well as to low current speed that allowed accumulation of organic matter on the sea floor. It was possible to follow the ecological succession from slightly altered assemblages to heavily polluted ones in the very short period of a single fish fattening cycle (15 months).